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This should be BREAKING NEWS! – but it isn’t, because Donald Trump has spent his entire life bending and breaking rules and laws. He campaigned for 18 months, bragging about the illegal, unconstitutional things he will do. On top of that he has promised to eliminate safeguards we’ve come to believe make good sense, like those that ensure safe, clean air and water. More on that in a future blog.
One of the worst of his nose thumbings is over his conflicts of interest. We have no way to have any confidence that the decisions he will make as President will be in service to the United States rather than to his own wallet. He flaunts the secrecy of his financial holdings and dealings so that we’re left to guess how much sucking up to Vladimir Putin he will do for his own interests, while putting the rest of us at risk.
You said you want to know what you can do to stop this madness, so let’s start by slicing off his most obvious conflicts of interest, those that are disallowed by statute or by contract.
The new Trump Hotel, opened by the President-Elect in Washington, D.C., is leased to him by the federal government. There’s a clause in the lease that says that no elected official can have an interest in the hotel.
Email the GSA—General Services Administration—and urge them to terminate this lease before the inauguration. A receptionist at the GSA said they are taking a tally on this matter. She suggests that emailing is the most effective route for this and she said they are taking both names and phone numbers on this issue. There are no links in what follows, so copy and paste the short paragraph below into your own email.
Email to: [email protected]
Subject: Trump Hotel lease violation
I write today to ask the GSA to immediately terminate the lease for the Trump Hotel at the former post office in Washington, D.C. The President-Elect is in clear violation of the terms of the lease, which state that no elected official may have any interest in the leased property.
Sincerely,
Your name, Your Address, Your Phone number
(Make sure you sign with your name, address, and phone number – I’m not confident they’ll log your request without all of it.)
There, now you’ve done something to stem the tide of the Trump assault on America.
Next, attend a meeting to Demand Democracy/Expose Corruption/Stop the Alt-Right (the hate mongers). Here’s a link to find a meeting in your area. Show up. Learn how you can make a difference. Because, as I’ve written before, it isn’t enough to care about this or to agree with those in your bubble. If things are to change for the better, you’ll actually have to do something.
Like sending that email to the GSA and showing up for the meeting on December 14.
There is and will continue to be plenty we can do. So, watch this space – and get up off that Barcalounger!
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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.
YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage. Thanks! JA
Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.
3 Responses to Time to Get Off the Barcalounger
Kirk Landers December 13, 2016
letter sent, with a cc to Senator Durbin. I’ll try to get to the Wednesday meeting.
dominickpalella December 13, 2016
Before you spend your time pleading with a GSA receptionist, (there’s always someone to take your complaints in our government), note that the GSA administrator is appointed by the President. She will not be employed in January, along with the receptionist as well, who apparently promoted the idea of trying to embarrass our future commander in chief.
Hundreds of other political appointees, under our supreme leader’s effort to make America great again will be replaced to execute his mission, including dozens of federal court judges. Also note that our new President and Congress may object to actions of their government servants in other areas that waste taxpayer money on regulations that are best handled by our corporations themselves. As far as their subjects (voters) go, expect years of unbridled prosperity, that is, if you are already wealthy.
So go ahead and show up at events to exercise your First Amendment rights to protest, petition, and complain as much as you like to people who have no obligation to listen or respond to you. Or, do something useful with your time. TrueDemocracyNow.org
Jack Altschuler December 13, 2016
Point of clarification: Absent impeachable offenses, federal judges are appointed for life. A new President will not have the power to replace any sitting federal judge. On the other hand, a new President will appoint replacement judges when a vacancy occurs, this subject to Senate approval.